One of the more tiresome but predictable Pavlovian reactions to Mass Shootings such as the one that occurred in Las Vegas has been calls for more “Common Sense” Gun Control from the left. Twice failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton led the charge on Twitter. The cry was taken up in Congress and on late-night TV, increasingly a venue for political nonsense. The calls for cracking down on gun ownership inevitably results on a pushback that can be expressed by, “Not this again?!”
More guns less crime
The classic study that suggests that private ownership of firearms actually reduces crime was “More Guns Less Crime,” published in 1998 by John D.
Lott. The book suggests that states and localities that have legalized the concealed carry of firearms experience reductions in gun violence as well as violent crimes such as robbery and rape. The notion seems, on even cursory examination, logical. A law abiding citizen, especially someone who has undergone the procedures, that includes training and a background check, with a concealed carry permit is harder to victimize than someone who has been denied the right to keep and bear arms by “common sense” gun control law.
Gun control does not prevent mass shootings
One of the standard features of mass shootings such as Sandy Hook and now Las Vegas is that even the sort of “common sense” gun control laws being advocated by some would not have prevented the massacres.
Stephen Paddock is alleged to have used either an automatic weapon or a semi-automatic weapon altered to fire automatically, both illegal. The reasonable notion arises that gun control laws will not deter someone willing to commit mass murder.
In Chicago, a city with some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, over 13 times the number of people died at the point of a gun in 2016 as died in Las Vegas, most in gang-related shootings.
France, in common with most European countries, severely restricts private ownership of firearms. “Common sense” gun control did not stop ISIS from slaughtering 130 people in and around Paris on November 13, 2015.
Gun control is a political loser
One of the reasons that the NRA is so powerful is that its stance in support of the 2nd Amendment reflects the attitudes of most Americans.
The vast majority of people who own firearms do not use them to commit crimes and resent efforts to take them away or severely inconvenience their ownership. However, reality, both political and otherwise, does not stop advocates of “common sense” gun control from attempting to use another tragedy to their advantage.
